CHESTER — As the Philadelphia Union head into the most absolute of must-win games in a string of such matches, manager John Hackworth is faced with a number of questions he couldn’t answer Wednesday.

The questions he’s managed to avoid all season have to do with the center of midfield, where stalwart captain Brian Carroll will be missing this weekend when Sporting Kansas City visits.

Carroll picked up his sixth yellow card of the season in last Saturday’s 2-1 loss to Montreal, dragging down former Union teammate Justin Mapp in the 39th minute. That leaves the Union (12-11-10, 46 points) to chase an unlikely chance at making the playoffs without a player who has missed one minute in league play this season.

The task of replacing Carroll is twofold: Finding cover for Carroll the holding midfielder, and for Carroll the captain. As of Wednesday, neither role had been definitively delegated, according to Hackworth.

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The midfield options continue to be limited by injuries. The natural replacement would be Michael Lahoud, who is recovering from an ankle injury that has kept him out four games and has only just returned to training. Keon Daniel’s groin injury has all but ruled him out this week.

While they get Michael Farfan back from a yellow-card suspension, someone will have to play a position he hasn’t yet this season, either with a midfielder like Farfan or Kleberson dropping back or a defender like Amobi Okugo stepping up.

“That’s a good question. We could move Amobi there but that would shift our back line a little bit,” Hackworth said Wednesday. “We could use Lahoud there but he’s coming off an injury so we would have to make sure he’s 100 percent ready to start a game. We could change our formation a little bit and not replace Brian in that spot but play a little differently, so we have some options. But at this point we haven’t made any decisions yet.”

The issue of the captaincy is easier to fill. All season, Hackworth has touted his veteran locker room’s ability to share the leadership load. While the Union count six players age 24 or younger among the regulars, they have MLS veterans like Conor Casey and Jeff Parke to turn to, plus a bevy of young players who’ve taken leadership roles even without the armband.

“I would say that we have a good group of guys in the locker room and out of the guys that would most likely be on the field on Saturday — two guys I would look at to immediately would be Jeff Parke and Conor Casey,” Hackworth said. “Sheanon Williams and Amobi Okugo are two young guys who could also take that leadership role on. I don’t think it will be a big deal for anybody and I think the way our team has done it all year long is those guys have acted as leaders whether they wear an armband or not. Whoever wears it on Saturday, and we haven’t made that decision yet, will do the same thing they have been doing.”

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The playoff scenarios look bleak for the Union, to say the least. They enter play sitting seventh in the East, two points behind New England and Houston, both of whom play Sunday.

The first condition of jumping into the fifth and final playoff spot is to beat Sporting Kansas City, which is playing for the Eastern Conference title and has an outside shot at the Supporters’ Shield and home-field advantage.

Then the Union need help. New England (at Columbus) and Houston (at D.C. United) would have to lose. A draw by New England wouldn’t help the Union, since the Union wouldn’t own the tiebreaker, which is goals scored, barring a minor miracle (New England has scored 48 to the Union’s 41).

Should New England lose and Houston tie, the Union could earn the final playoff spot via the tiebreaker with Houston, which has only scored 39 goals. Even if Houston were to draw by a margin of, say 3-3, to match the Union’s goals scored, the Union would own the edge on goal difference, the next tiebreaker: Both teams sit at minus-1, at which Houston would stay with a draw and the Union would improve.

Hackworth displayed an air of calm discussing the permutations. He harkened back to his days as an assistant to Bob Bradley with the U.S. Men’s National Team at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup, when the U.S. went from bottom of the group to second on the final day, needing a win over Egypt, an Italy loss and a six-goal swing in the results. That happened, and the U.S. ended up making a run to the finals.

The lessons endure with Hackworth.

“I’m thankful that I’ve gone through those scenarios where I felt the room and ceiling was caving in and there was no way out,” Hackworth said. “Yet we found a way out. And every time you do that as a coach, it instills that belief that as long as you have hope and as long as you’re playing for something, it’s massive.”